OCR Text |
Show I THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. I The news of the death of Vice-Presi- i dent Hendricks was a eurprise to all and I a Badness to all. Although advanced in I years, yet he seemed in the vigor of life, j His life has been a busy one, and was J filled with years and honors. I Thomas A. Hendricks was bom on a I farm near Zanesville, O., September 7, I 1819. When Thomas was but six months J of age his father removed to Indiana, eet- tliug near Madison, on the Ohio. His j " ' father was the founder of the Presbyterian I church in Indianapolis, and in that 1 denomination Thomas was educated. I After graduating from the college at I South Hanover, young Hendricks en- 1 tered the law office of Judge Major as a 1 student at law. From the office of Judge f Major he entered the law office of his ma- j ternal uncle, Judge Thompson, of Cham- I bersburg, Fa., and was admitted to the I barinlS43. In 1S4S he was elected to I the State Legislature, but declined re-, 1 election in 1850. In 1851 he was elected J I 1o Congress, defeating his oppo- j I nent by nearly four thousand ma- j j jority. He was beaten for the next Congress by Ltician Barbour, I and in 1855 returned to Shelby ville, i where he resumed the practice of the I law, and in August of that year, Presi- dent Pierce, in an autograph letter, ten- j uered him the olhce of Commissioner of the General Land Office, which he finally accepted at the urgent solicitation of friends. He resigned this offire in 1859. In 18G3 he was elected to the Senate of (the United States, where he faithfully j served his State and country for six years, j In 1872 lie was elected Governor of In- j diana. In 1884 he was elected Vice- i President of the United States on the ticket headed by Graver Cleveland, and j in that office he died. Thus closed his official career. I In 1808 he was a candidate for the j Presidency, but the nomination was given j to Horatio Seymour. Again, in 187(1, he j was a candidate, but again he was de- j I feated, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, I I being nominated first on the Democratic j ticket, Mr. Hendricks finalljr accepting j I : . the second place on the ticket, although ; I he did so wit i stance and felt it to be j I a humiliation The Presidential election S of 1876 is still fresh i.i the minds of the j people, and that Tilden and Hendricks were elected "Here can be no doubt. Mr. I lendricks a in f a vor of taking the oath ' of office, and demanding the Presideuc' i of President Grant, and leaving the ulti-1 mate decision of the question to the I .( Supreme Court, he always having opposed j I the Electoral Conn ission. nis election j i to the Vice-Prewde-icy in 1884 seemed j I almost poetic jnrfi - the great wrong j 1 j he had suffered in I1-: :. m i Vice-Presidf.il IIt1; was a Demo- orat of the old school, a.i l m his Democ- racy never once wavers I. I T's Democracy was such that at times Le sc.med to be of the past rather than of ih present, and j such being the case, he was never heart- , ily in accord with the reform ppirit of the party. As time goes on. new conditions arise, and parties must conform them-i them-i selves to these new conditions. The !j )olicy which would be Vpuropriate arid f? proper under the condition of one i time may lie inappropriate and improper at another time. And this is peculiarly so in a country whose growth has been so rapid and wonderful as the growth of the United States. The United States are no longer '. in swaddling clothes, but they are a Na- ,' tion among the Nations. The methods which were in use forty years ago are inappropriate in-appropriate to-day, and still Viee-Presi-dent Hendricks was very largely attached l to those methods. He was attached to Itliem because lie thought them best calculated cal-culated to further the interests of his ; country, and for no other reason. The i:-; spirit of the age says otherwise, and the ; ! ' spirit of the age is a better and safer 'i guide than any precedent. In person he was most comely, and his manners were of that mild, sweet kind lr which win the hearts of all. He was the ; jiersonification of a gentleman, and in 1 social life had no superior. His wife is i as accomplished as a lady as he was as a ! , 1 1 gentleman, and their home was the home r of happineBS and sunshine, although that W! home was wanting in children, those f angels who are Bent to lighten the burden i and sorrows of this world. How calm ; ; and beautiful must have been the soul which could say, as death drew near, ' "I am free at last, : and how sweet must le its sleep! j |